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I am in the Manchester area and we have not really had a dry day since the day they announced the hose pipe ban.
Well, that was nice ;D about a centimeter from the look of pots.But, Friday's heavy rain now demoted to a light shower......... :(Quote from: antipodes on August 04, 2010, 13:12:55Quote from: earlypea on August 03, 2010, 06:53:29 Been waiting for a proper downpour to mulch, but it just never came.What would you do? I very much dislike having bare, exposed earth.I would water well by hand and mulch over that. The mulch will help the evaporation and cool the earth.Trouble is, in beds where I've pulled up crops and not watered for a few weeks, watering only penetrates the top inch no matter how much you put on. I would have to dig holes and water to get any in, but I don't think it's good to dig earth when it's as dry as this.Maybe I'll stab it with a fork - if possible (concrete!) - and try pouring some in.I find this a conundrum, same as last year...
Quote from: earlypea on August 03, 2010, 06:53:29 Been waiting for a proper downpour to mulch, but it just never came.What would you do? I very much dislike having bare, exposed earth.I would water well by hand and mulch over that. The mulch will help the evaporation and cool the earth.
Been waiting for a proper downpour to mulch, but it just never came.What would you do? I very much dislike having bare, exposed earth.
Working in organic matter over the winter has helped the soil immensely during drought. That and mulch. It used to get great cracks in drought and hard as rock just as you've described. But if you haven't had a drop since June probably any soil would crack. I hope next year is a whole different story for you. Very discouraging putting so much work and dreams into it then watch it die in drought.
Quote from: GrannieAnnie on August 10, 2010, 16:41:35Working in organic matter over the winter has helped the soil immensely during drought. That and mulch. It used to get great cracks in drought and hard as rock just as you've described. But if you haven't had a drop since June probably any soil would crack. I hope next year is a whole different story for you. Very discouraging putting so much work and dreams into it then watch it die in drought.Thanks GrannieAnne for the suggestions - I do wonder how people in seriously dry summer environments cope. Our problem is we're not used to it and normally it is reckoned that rainfall in the UK is roughly equal to evaporation so no action necessary.In fact, spring was unusually dry too so it's not just been a summer thing.So, in my first year I went with the 'no-dig' way (but I don't want to raise any heckles, because it seems very divisive) and although I add at least 2 inches a year, probably twice a year in fact, most beds - that doesn't work well for me when it's dry.But you would not believe the amounts of matter I acquired from a variety of sources and dug in last year and this spring to prepare for this year - those beds are good, but there's no way I could ever cover the entire plot. Altogether I used 1.5 cubed metres of the allotment manure, the same of racing horse field manure (dug and bagged myself), a pallet of reclaimed peat and several bags of sheeps wool compost to finish it off!!! Plus, I nearly forgot; beds without manure mulched with 2 bales of hay and it's all gone somewhere down there.Hopefully after doing that for a couple of years it would take less, but I don't know - I hadn't realised until my second year of growing quite how intensive these vegetables' needs are.I'm building a wormery now to add to the other sources.........Almost forgot :D it started raining heavily almost exactly on cue yesterday morning (5 mins early) and then lightly ALL DAY!!!! So lovely.
Oh my :-[ I really was singing to the choir, wasn't I? You've done a ton of work and must have muscles on your muscles. I hope next year's rain will prove all your hauling wasn't in vain.